No More Colds or Flu

Outsmart those bugs and stay well this winter

If there's a cold or flu going around, it will find me. I can get sick just standing across the street from someone who sneezes. On a recent trip, my friends considered sending me into their hotel rooms first, as a "sickness buffer." That way, they figured, any nasty viruses would gravitate toward me...and bypass them.

When it comes to catching colds and other bugs, there are a lot of people like me. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that Americans suffer from roughly 62 million colds per year. And up to 20 percent of Americans come down with influenza each year during flu season, which runs from October through March.

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Why do so many of us get sick, especially during the winter? Because the germs that cause infections are easily transmitted. "Eighty percent of all infectious diseases are spread by direct contact, such as kissing or shaking hands with a sick person, or by indirect contact, like touching a doorknob or handling a phone that a sick person has used," explains Philip Tierno, Ph.D., director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Center, in New York City. Many viruses, including the flu, lurk in the air, waiting to be inhaled by an unsuspecting human host. But you're not completely helpless: Here are some simple precautions you can take to lower your risk for colds, flu, and other viruses.

1. Don't touch your face
The rhinovirus — which causes the common cold — usually enters your body through your eyes, nose, or mouth. These areas contain mucous membranes, which are essentially open doors for germs. "You often have no choice but to touch things like subway poles and railings," says Philip T. Hagen, M.D., vice chairman of the division of preventive and occupational medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. And at the height of the cold season (October through May) these surfaces are teeming with germs. Scratch your eye without thinking, and you could be setting yourself up for a cold.

2. Wash your hands properly
Rub them together vigorously with lots of soap (any kind will do) and warm water for at least 15 seconds, advises Jack Brown, Ph.D., author of Don't Touch That Doorknob and a professor in the department of molecular biosciences at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The friction of washing is what removes germs, so be sure to scrub your palms, between your fingers, and underneath your nails.

3. Be extra vigilant in public rest rooms
These high-traffic areas are breeding grounds for germs. To limit the surfaces you touch, try this tactic from Deanie Lancaster, R.N., an epidemiologist and a risk-control officer for Saint Thomas Hospital, in Nashville: When you're ready to wash your hands, turn on the faucet, wet your hands, and then soap up. After rinsing, dry your hands with a paper towel, and use the towel to turn off the faucet.

4. Drink lots of fluids
When the mucous membranes in your mouth, nose, and throat are dry, it's easier for germs to latch on to them. Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water and other beverages, such as juice, each day. (Limit caffeine because it dehydrates you.) A cool-mist humidifier will also keep mucous membranes moist, but run it only while you sleep — a too-humid environment may cause fungi to proliferate, possibly triggering an allergic reaction.

5. Get an annual flu shot
It doesn't just protect against the flu; the flu vaccine can also prevent influenza-related pneumonia, ear infections, and sinusitis, notes Carolyn Bridges, M.D., a medical epidemiologist at the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta. In fact, people who got a flu shot made 42 percent fewer visits to their doctors for flulike illnesses over a two-month period during flu season than people who weren't inoculated, according to researchers at the CDC. The CDC now recommends flu shots for anyone age 50 and older (though it can certainly help younger people, too), as well as for pregnant women who will be in their second or third trimester during the flu season, people whose immune systems are weak, and health-care workers. Ask your doctor if you could still benefit from the flu shot this winter; if it's too late, make sure you get one next flu season.

6. Reduce stress
The evidence that stress can weaken your immune system is very persuasive. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, assessed the stress levels of about 400 healthy adults and then exposed them to the rhinovirus. It turned out that those who were the most frazzled were twice as likely to end up with a cold. And experts at Ohio State University in Columbus report that the pneumonia vaccine can be less effective in older people who are under stress when they receive it.
Though everyone feels stress occasionally, it's important to unwind. Meditation works for some people, but little treats — such as sneaking in a midday movie or indulging in a long lunch — can also help to keep you cold- and flu-free.

7. Surround yourself with friends
Just as stress can undermine your immune system, having a strong social network can boost it. A ten-year Stanford University study found that women with breast cancer who joined a support group had better prognoses than women who did not belong to such a group.
The benefits of having a social life extend to battling minor illnesses as well. When researchers at Carnegie Mellon University gave nearly 300 people nasal drops that contained the rhinovirus, they found that those with only one to three social relationships were four times more likely to come down with a cold than those who had six or more friends.

8. Exercise regularly
"It may optimize your body's defenses against illness," says the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Hagen. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you exercise for 30 minutes on most, if not all, days of the week, to lower your risk for respiratory infections. If you happen to catch a cold, you may recover faster if you're fit. Researchers have found that cold symptoms lasted half as long in women who walked for 45 minutes per day, five days a week, as they did in women who were sedentary.